Credit cards are widely used in commerce as a method of payment for the purchase of a consumer product or conducting a transaction. A continuing problem with the use of credit cards, and the handling of them in making a purchase or conducting a transaction is that, not infrequently, the customer is in a hurry, or some distraction occurs, and the customer inadvertently fails to retrieve the credit card, or the credit card is not returned to the customer at the end of the transaction. This is a serious problem and merchants are continually faced with the problem of returning overlooked credit cards to their customers. The absence of the credit card for a time also provides an opportunity to an unscrupulous person to steal the card or copy it for unauthorized use. There is a strong need in the credit card industry for a system or mechanism which will eliminate or reduce the number of credit cards that are inadvertently lost or misplaced, even temporarily, by the person carrying the credit card.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,908, Phillips, et al., issued Jan. 5, 1998, discloses an alarm system that signals when one or more credit cards are absent from a card stack in the case if the system is enabled. In preferred form, a card stack thickness sensor responds to the stack thickness to determine whether all cards are present in the stack. A first signal device (e.g., a buzzer) in a circuit that includes a single sensor switch operated by the card stack thickness sensor informs the case's owner when not all cards are present if the circuit is enabled. A second signal device (e.g., one or more of the cards, or a separate flag) that is projectable from and retractable into the case's interior is operated by a circuit enabling switch, this switch being manually controlled for enabling the circuit when the case is to be stored (the second signal device being disabled, i.e., the indicator being retracted into the case, when the circuit is enabled) and for disabling the circuit when one or more cards is intentionally removed from the case for use (the second signal device then being enabled, i.e., the indicator being projected from the case, when the circuit is disabled). The second signal device alerts the case's owner that the circuit has been disabled if that is the fact that the circuit has been disabled in the event the owner tries to inadvertently return the case to a pocket in the owner's clothing or to the owner's purse without first enabling the circuit by retracting the second signal device into the case's interior.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,328, Eppenbach, issued Oct. 1, 1991, discloses a mechanical apparatus comprising a billfold including first and second sections and a hinge joining the sections for pivotal movement. The first section has a pocket with an opening which provides access to the pocket and the pocket is adapted to receive a card, such as a credit card, through the opening. The hinge joins the first and second sections for pivotal movement between a closed position in which the sections are in confronting, engaging relationship over major portions thereof and an open position in which the sections are out of confronting relationship and the opening of the pocket is exposed to allow insertion of the card into, and withdrawal of the card from, the pocket. A card-missing indicator is coupled to the billfold. The indicator is responsive to removal of the card from the pocket when the sections are in the open position for inhibiting pivotal movement of the first and second sections to the closed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,874, Weggelaar, issued Mar. 9, 1999, discloses a device for use in conjunction with a case or wallet. The device has compartments in which credit cards and the like are kept. The device has two parts which are movable relative to each other between a secure and open position. In the secure position, the cards and the device are retained for storage. In the open position, a card to be used may be removed from the device, but if the card is not replaced into the device, the device cannot return to the secure position. Therefore, should the user of the credit card not return the credit card to the device, it will be readily apparent to the user that the credit card is missing. The device has a locking lug which, depending on the locking lug's position in the device, the device may not be returned to the secure position unless the credit card used is returned to the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,356, Galante, issued Jun. 30, 1992, discloses a device for alerting an owner of a credit card, debit card, or the like, of a situation in which a card is missing from a card holder device. The device comprises a substantially planar sheet having a surface, a lower surface, an aligning edge, and at least two vacant edges and being configured for placement behind a card in a card holder device; and a substantially planar member positioned longitudinally along the aligning edge, the substantially planar member having a fixed edge affixed to the planar sheet and a free edge normally being biased in a direction away from the surface, the free edge being forced in a direction against the surface when pressure is applied toward the substantially planar member. The fixed edge may be affixed proximate the aligning edge or a vacant edge.
All of the above four prior art patents relate to designs for mechanisms within stacks, wallets or sleeves that inform the holder by various techniques when a card is absent or has not been replaced prior to closing the holder, case or wallet. None disclose a wallet that has an alarm that sounds and an alert light which illuminates when the wallet is closed with a card absent.
Weggelaar, U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,874, discloses a strictly mechanical system whereby a missing card releases a lock pin that prevents closing of the case or wallet. Galante, U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,356, also discloses a mechanical system whereby a missing card releases a visible raised or lifted flange or flap that indicates to the user of the case that a card is missing when the case or wallet is closed by the holder. Eppenbach, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,328, also features a simple mechanical lever device. None of these patents have any bearing on the device of the subject invention.
Phillips et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,908, is the only located patent that features electronic circuitry and an audible alarm in its device. This device is based upon the thickness of a "stack of cards". It features an audible device (i.e. a buzzer) and a visual device (i.e. card or flag protrudes from the wallet).